Backup generators should be required countywide

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The Association of Service Stations and Repair Shops, meanwhile, said it could live with generator mandates if its members were given incentives. An unfunded generator ordinance, they say, would sink station owners who are getting by on razor-thin profit margins.

The town’s ordinance mandates generators without offering any incentives. Nassau County is offering stations incentives — without requiring them to carry generators. There is a clear disparity that needs to be eliminated.

Forcing stations to have generators on hand will not singlehandedly solve the problems another massive power outage would create, but it would certainly go a long way toward preventing hours-long lines. The Town of Hempstead took action. Nassau County should do the same.